KYUSHU / OKINAWA
Motobu
Travel journal from Motobu, with 25 notes on the places I ate, the dishes I cooked and the sights: Yanbaru, Kouri Bridge, Bise Fukugi Tree Path, Ie Island and Mt. Gusuku.
Journeys: 2 · Notes: 25
Journeys
Slow Living in Okinawa
Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Still in Motobu, in the north of Okinawa's main island, I spent a day at a different old house this time.
Film published 2023.02.12
Japan's Earliest Cherry Blossoms
Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, in the north of Okinawa's main island.
Film published 2023.02.04
01
Cook the local flavors once more
Dishes made in borrowed kitchens, and how each one connects to the land.
Motobu, Okinawa
Spam musubi
In postwar Okinawa, when meat was hard to come by, canned pork became a widely used source of protein that kept well and was easy to prepare, and serving it wit…
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Goya chanpuru
Chanpuru, Okinawa's everyday stir-fry, combines seared island tofu with seasonal vegetables, and goya chanpuru is its best-known form.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Jushi
Jushi is the Okinawan word for seasoned rice.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Stone-roasted sweet potatoes
The sweet potato is said to have reached the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1605, when Noguni Sokan brought seedlings back from Fujian in China.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Rice with sea grapes and egg yolk
Sea grapes (umibudo) rank third in Okinawa's aquaculture by both volume and value and are known as one of the prefecture's signature products.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Motobu bonito sashimi
Freshly landed bonito from a fish shop in Motobu, the only town on Okinawa's main island where pole-and-line bonito fishing survives, where the fish is fresh en…
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Okinawa soba yakisoba
Okinawa soba is a noodle dish made with wheat flour rather than buckwheat.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
02
A little of each town’s story
Sights, specialties and how the towns came to be: small cultural notes beside each journey.
Motobu, Okinawa
Yanbaru
Yanbaru, written with the characters for mountain and field, means a region of connected mountains and spreading forest, and refers to the north of Okinawa Isla…
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Fukugi windbreaks
In Okinawa, fukugi trees have long been planted around homes to shield them from typhoon winds.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Kouri Bridge
A 1,960-meter bridge linking Yagaji Island in Nago with Kouri Island in Nakijin.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Okinawan zenzai
In Okinawa, zenzai is a cold dessert: shaved ice piled over sweetly simmered kintoki beans.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Gurukun, the prefectural fish
Gurukun is the Okinawan name for the double-lined fusilier, called takasago in standard Japanese.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Sea grapes and mozuku
Sea grapes (umibudo) rank third among Okinawa's aquaculture products in both volume and value.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Bise Fukugi Tree Path
In the village of Bise, at the northwestern tip of the Motobu Peninsula, fukugi trees planted as windbreaks around the houses form the largest tree-lined paths…
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Ie Island and Mt. Gusuku
An island about 5 kilometers west of the Motobu Peninsula, forming the village of Ie.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Ryukyu kanhizakura cherry
In Okinawa, cherry blossom means kanhizakura, whose deep pink flowers hang downward like little bells.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Yaedake Sakura no Mori Park and the Motobu Yaedake Cherry Blossom Festival
Mt.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium
An aquarium inside Ocean Expo Park; the present building opened in November 2002.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Motobu, the bonito town
A town where people say: if bonito, then Motobu; if Motobu, then bonito.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Orion Clear Free
A non-alcoholic beer-style drink (0.00% alcohol) made by Orion Breweries of Okinawa, with zero sugar, calories and purines, brewed with locally grown barley.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Yushidofu
Okinawan tofu is sold warm, and because it holds together it is prized for stir-fries.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
03
Places we stopped along the way
What we ate and bought, with shop details checked against published listings.
Motobu, Okinawa
Kinokawa Shokudo
A diner in a quiet residential area a short way in from the coast road.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Nago Municipal Market
A market in the center of Nago, dating back to the Taisho era; the current building was completed in 2010.
From: Island cooking in a traditional Okinawan house
Motobu, Okinawa
Okinawa Soba Mori no Ie
An Okinawa soba restaurant hidden among the trees beside the mountain road up Mt.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter
Motobu, Okinawa
Motobu Town Market
An old-style public market in Toguchi, the center of Motobu.
From: Early cherry blossoms and an Okinawan winter